Space Division Multiplexing in Optical Fibres

TL;DR

This paper discusses the potential of space division multiplexing in optical fibres to significantly increase data capacity by utilizing multiple spatial modes as parallel channels, an area not yet fully exploited in commercial systems.

Contribution

The paper highlights the untapped potential of using multiple spatial modes in optical fibres for multiplexing, proposing a new avenue for increasing data transmission capacity.

Findings

Optical fibres can support hundreds of spatial modes.

Current systems do not utilize spatial modes for multiplexing.

Space division multiplexing could vastly increase data capacity.

Abstract

Optical communications technology has made enormous and steady progress for several decades, providing the key resource in our increasingly information-driven society and economy. Much of this progress has been in finding innovative ways to increase the data carrying capacity of a single optical fibre. In this search, researchers have explored (and close to maximally exploited) every available degree of freedom, and even commercial systems now utilize multiplexing in time, wavelength, polarization, and phase to speed more information through the fibre infrastructure. Conspicuously, one potentially enormous source of improvement has however been left untapped in these systems: fibres can easily support hundreds of spatial modes, but today's commercial systems (single-mode or multi-mode) make no attempt to use these as parallel channels for independent signals.